With the successes of the opening International GT Open weekend at Estoril coming as a pleasant surprise, the Balfe Motorsport team of Shaun Balfe and Rob Bell are looking forward to the challenge of this weekend’s trip to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

“Spa is one of my top three circuits I have raced on, it’s the undulations and the character of it,” said Ancaster-based Balfe.

The pair’s McLaren 650S GT3 was second and fourth in Portugal and lies second overall in the championship.

Balfe added: “We are not doing any special preparation for Spa, but GT cars are very sensitive to track temperature and we will need to be aware of that. The circuit is also very hard on tyres and so the practice sessions will be vital to prepare our data for the races.”

As an unusual warm-up for his racing weekend, Balfe also took part in his first half-Ironman triathlon competition!

Balfe said: “It’s something I have been building up to, but did 1.2-mile swim, 56 miles cycling and a half marathon.” he explained.

The races at Spa are live on BT Sport at 3.45pm on Saturday and 1.15pm on Sunday.